Double HH Ranch

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The Double HH Ranch

OUR FACILITY

We are a full-service facility with a sixteen stall barn (four with outside runs), a fully covered 300x130 arena with a fiberglass “cutting critter” and complete roping set-up, a 140x140 outdoor cutting pen with a handheld “pro cutter” mechanical cow, freestyle walker, breaking pens, and fresh cattle and buffalo all year round.

OUR PHILOSOPHY

At the Double HH Ranch, honesty and integrity are foremost in our business dealings; we truly cater to the non-pro and amateur riders. It’s all about you and your horse having fun and learning the fundamentals through advanced riding in an enjoyable atmosphere. We are devoted to helping non-pros and amateurs enjoy the sports of cutting and reined cow horses as well as the well-being of our equine partners. We select the shows that fit you and your horse - it’s not about our wins and earnings. We taylor our program to fit you and your horse at you level.

THE SPORT OF CUTTING

The sport originated from cattle ranches in the American West where it was a horses’s job to separate cattle from the herd for vaccinating, castrating, and sorting. Eventually competitions arose between ranches in the area. Rules were added, and in 1946 the NCHA (National Cutting Horse Association) was formed.

A Cutting horse is an athletic animal that is trained to instinctively keep a cow from returning to the herd. In the event, the horse and rider select (cut) a cow four of a small group (herd). The rider loosens the reins (puts his hands down) and leaves it entirely to the horse to keep the cow separated from the herd as the cow tries to return to the herd. A contestant has 2 ½ minutes to show the horse. Typically, three cows are cut during a run, although working only one cow is acceptable A judge or judges award points to the cutter based on a scale that ranges from 60-80. A score of 70 is considered average.

REINED COW HORSES

The original training methods of the spanish vaquero have survived unchanged through the formation of the National Reined Cow Horse Association (NRCHA). The traditional Vaquero training program included numerous phases spanning several years before a horse was considered “finished” and capable of performing to standard the various maneuvers required on ranches, roundups, and cattle drives.

To start, the snaffle bit is introduced to the young horse. It’s purpose is to allow two and three year old horses to be guided through training without undue pressure on the tongue, roof, or sensitive bars of the mouth. In skilled hands, the snaffle works on the corners of the horse’s lips, providing gentle guidance to position the head, to stop, and to turn. At the end of a year, a young horse should be able to perform, at speed, all the moves necessary for good cow work. This is possible because of a slow start and schooling taken step by step without pain or fright associated with the training.

To test the horse’s cow working abilities, three year old horses compete in three events: herd work (cutting a single steer from a small herd and keeping it from returning to the herd), rein work (a pattern of figure 8’s, straight runs, lead changes, sliding stops, and spins), and cow work (working a single steer “down the fence”, controlling it’s movements at a dead run, heading it off and turning it both ways along the fence, then bringing the steer to the center of the arena to circle it once in each direction).

As four and five year old horse’s mouths change, they progress from the snaffle to the rawhide or leather covered hackamore to give the mouth a rest. Horses learn to work off pressure and release from the nose of the hackamore. As five and six years olds, horses are introduced to a leverage bit by two reining them (leverage bit with a hackamore/bosal) and then progress into the leverage bit.